The Awareness Center closed. We operated from April 30, 1999 - April 30, 2014. This site is being provided for educational & historical purposes.
We were the international Jewish Coalition Against Sexual Abuse/Assault (JCASA); and were dedicated to ending sexual violence in Jewish communities globally. We did our best to operate as the make a wish foundation for Jewish survivors of sex crimes. In the past we offered a clearinghouse of information, resources, support and advocacy.

Saturday, January 31, 2004

Of the thousands of women brought to Israel each year
to work as prostitutes, many are enslaved, beaten and raped by their pimps.
Now, one of them is fighting back...

If you were to pass her on the street, there's nothing
particular about Victoria that would catch your eye. She could be your daughter,
your sister, or your wife. In fact, before her ordeal began, she was a law
student in the small Republic of Moldova, and she still has hopes of resuming
her studies there. It is only when she begins to speak - barely above a whisper,
in grammatically tortured Hebrew picked up "on the job" - that you sense,
even become infected by, the fear in her voice, the sadness in her eyes,
the exhaustion broadcast by her very posture. And only when you hear her
story do you understand that this intelligent, un-assuming 21-year-old -
one of the millions of people around the world who have been trafficked as
prostitutes this year (see box) - is a heroine, not of some abstract
international struggle for human rights but of a very private struggle to
rise above the status of victim and take charge of her life again.

Ironically, it was a similar impetus that led Victoria
(who asks that her last name not be published) into the nightmare she has
been living for the past 16 months. In mid-1999, when she ran out of funds
to continue her studies and found that her family would not help her, she
was lured by the offer of a job in Israel as a masseuse. The promised monthly
salary was $1,000 (astronomical compared to the $30 a month she was earning
in Moldova), and she was assured that she could return there whenever she
chose.

Victoria's suspicion that something was awry arose
at the last moment, when the "job recruiter" equipped her with a false passport
to travel via Romania. But it was only after she arrived in Israel, in August
1999, that she learned the truth about her new "job" from the man who met
her at the airport, took the passport from her, and drove her to a town in
the Negev. And the truth was harrowing: The "recruiter," she was told, had
sold her into prostitution and debt bondage - meaning that she would have
to work off her purchase price ($6,500) before she could be released or even
start earning a wage. She would also be required to have sex with her "owner"
and his friends for free. The best she could expect for herself was tips
from satisfied clients, which she soon discovered averaged $4 to $8 per
john.

"We were locked in an apartment or under guard every
time we moved from place to place," Victoria explains when asked why she
didn't flee. "And even if I could get away, I had no passport, I had no money
for a ticket to go back." Because she had entered Israel illegally, Victoria
feared the law. She also had reason to suspect that local policemen were
in cahoots with her "owners," because they were among the clients being
"serviced" in one of the places in which she worked. ("They showed up in
uniform," she relates, "with a squad car parked outside waiting for them.")
But most of all she feared reprisal by her pimps. "They threatened that if
I ran away, their people would track me down in Moldova and make sure I was
punished."

AND SO, OVER THE COURSE OF 11 months, Victoria worked
in various brothels, apartments and hotels in Beersheba and Tel Aviv from
10 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week, "servicing" between 10 and 20 clients
a day. Five times she was sold by one pimp to another, each new "owner" requiring
her to work off her purchase price. Along the way, she was raped and sodomized
by three of her "owners" and one's son, as well. When a brothel in which
she was working was raided and she was taken to the police station, she produced
the forged Israeli identity card given to her by her "owner" and claimed
- as she had been instructed - that she had been in the country for three
years. Seeing the identity card, the police asked no further questions, and
Victoria was released back into slavery.

It was only on July 27, 2000, the second time she was
arrested in a raid, that the police bothered to interrogate Victoria. "I
showed them the forged identity card again, but this time they asked me detailed
questions about my family - the family I supposedly had, according to the
forged card - and I couldn't answer them. So although I was frightened, I
told them the truth," she recalls.

Thus ended one ordeal and began another. As an illegal
alien, Victoria was held for about a month in a local lock-up and then another
two in the Neveh Tirzah Women's Prison in Ramlah, awaiting deportation, before
she was discovered by the Hotline for Foreign Workers, a Tel Aviv NGO that
focuses on the plight of illegal foreign workers. At first all she wanted
was the Hotline's help in obtaining a proper travel document so that she
could leave the country. But at some point Victoria also remembered that
wronged people have a right to be angry.

"After more than a year of absolute hell, I'm going
to be going back without a penny to show for everything that's happened!"
she grumbled to Sigal Rozen, the director of the Hotline. So Rozen promptly
suggested an idea she had been promoting to women in a similar situation
for two years - without any takers.

"Why not get your deportation postponed - with the
Hotline's help - so that you can stay and fight for your due?" Rozen proposed
to Victoria. "Not only justice for those who have victimized you but just
compensation for your labors."

So were born the three court cases currently being
waged in Victoria's name or with her help. The first is a criminal case against
three of her six "owners" and the errant son. The charges against them, it
turns out, do not include trafficking in women, as Victoria was last "sold"
a month before the amendment to the Penal Code made trafficking in human
beings a crime in Israel. They do, however, include crimes equally as evil:
rape and sodomy, in aggravated circumstances, among others.

The second is a civil case filed in the Beersheba District
Labor Court in which Victoria, represented by the Hotline's energetic legal
adviser, Nomi Levenkron, is suing all six of her "owners" for a combined
total of almost $200,000 in back wages, interest, and compensation for the
pain, suffering, and anguish she endured while enslaved by them.

The third is a petition to the Supreme Court for an
injunction ordering the minister of internal security, the interior minister,
and the Israel Police to pay for Victoria's upkeep ($1,500 a month, though
there are legal precedents for demanding twice that amount) until she can
testify in the criminal case.

Since being released from the Neveh Tirzah Prison early
last November, Victoria has been living, in hiding from her former enslavers
and with no police protection, off the kindness of strangers. She is not
getting the medical attention she wants. She is not receiving the psychological
counseling she needs. "There are times when I'd just like to go window shopping
in a mall to cheer up a bit," she says. "But that would only remind me how
utterly destitute I am."

"The terms of her release from detention prohibit Victoria
from working during the remainder of her stay in Israel," Levenkron explains.
"So who's taking care of her? Well, if having our volunteers stand up at
the end of a law class, tell Victoria's story, and pass around the hat is
'seeing to her needs,' then yes, I suppose you can say we're taking care
of her."

VICTORIA'S CIVIL SUIT AND Supreme Court appeal for
maintenance are unprecedented in Israel. But many aspects of her plight are
so common to the thousands of trafficked women engaged in prostitution in
Israel that one must wonder why the phenomenon has been allowed to continue
for so long.

Indeed, Chief Superintendent Avi Davidovich, head of
the Investigations Division in the national headquarters of the Israel Police
and head of a new interministerial committee on trafficking in women, notes
that the problem has been growing since the beginning of the 1990s.

"Four factors have fostered it," Davidovich explains:
"The rapid growth of Israel's population and thus the number of men who seek
sexual services; the growth in the number of foreign workers, mostly single
men, who have become major consumers of such services; the opening of borders
and freer movement worldwide, especially migration from the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS); and an erosion of social norms in Israel."

"Israelis have simply grown used to the idea that women
can be bought," concurs Leah Gruenpeter-Gold, co-director of the Awareness
Center in Tel Aviv, which specializes in research on trafficking in women
and prostitution. "I wouldn't say sex trafficking has burgeoned here largely
because of the foreign workers - show me one who can afford $60 an hour for
a prostitute. It's far more because of the changed norms of young Israelis
- both married men and single men who don't want to enter into a relationship
so they purchase sex."

The influx of 1 million immigrants from the CIS over
the past decade has also made it easier for the crime syndicates operating
there - whose tentacles reach deep into Israel - to traffic women with forged
documents. "Some prostitutes come in under the forged identities of Jewish
women in Russia and the Ukraine," explains Hagay Herzl, an advisor to the
internal security minister on foreign-workers issues. "They even receive
the rights and benefits accorded to immigrants by the Law of Return."

Yet even though the problem is a veteran and particularly
ugly one, trafficking in women has only hiccupped its way through the discussion
of Israel's struggle with a growing population of illegal foreign workers.
"It crops up from time to time, the press gives it a blast of coverage -
like when the four Russian prostitutes were burned to death in a locked brothel,
with bars on the windows, in Tel Aviv last August - and then it goes back
to sleep again," says Gruenpeter-Gold.

One reason for the lack of sustained attention by the
government and media is that prostitution, per se, is not illegal in Israel
(and neither was trafficking in human beings until last July). What is criminal
is "procurement," which the law defines as taking some or all of the profits
of a woman so engaged. In short, it is pimps who stand to spend up to five
years in prison (seven under aggravated circumstances) for their actions.
Yet in the case of trafficked women, it is the prostitutes who have been
consistently punished by Israel's law-enforcement agencies - as illegal aliens
- by being arrested, detained for weeks, and deported, while the owners of
brothels have gotten off scot-free.

Another reason for the lack of vigor in attacking the
problem is that Israeli officials, to this day, seem somewhat ambivalent
about just how victimized the trafficked women are.

"From talks with hundreds of women awaiting deportation
in Neveh Tirzah, I can tell you that only an isolated number claim they were
deceived about what awaited them here - meaning they had answered an ad for
a job as an au pair or a model or something similar," says Herzl. "The
overwhelming majority came here knowing what they would be doing and how
much they were likely to earn," which is an estimated $700-$1,000 a month.
Many of these women, Herzl concedes, failed to anticipate the harsh physical
conditions or how hard they would be required to work. "But the great majority
of the women who have come here to work in prostitution do get paid for it,"
he stresses. "Before being deported, quite a few have even told me that they
intend to come back, as this is the only way they can improve their economic
situation."

Activists dispute this overview, saying that while
they simply don't know what proportion of the women are here against their
will, it's a far from isolated phenomenon. Still, testimonies like those
cited by Herzl

probably made it easier to turn a blind eye to the
egregious violations of human rights often entailed in the sex trafficking
business. And typically, perhaps, it took an outside party to rub Israel's
nose in this problem.

That service was provided last May by Amnesty
International, which issued a blistering 23-page report on trafficking in
women in Israel that slammed the government for "[failing] to take adequate
measures to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish human rights abuses
against trafficked women" from the former Soviet Union. The report included
a list of specific recommendations, among them: making slavery and trafficking
unlawful; establishing a special unit to deal with the investigation and
prosecution of abuses; treating women as victims rather than criminals; opening
a hostel for trafficked women (detaining them in prison, pending deportation,
only as a last resort); and providing them with legal aid, counseling, and
medical services, as well as tools to request asylum when they face danger
if returned to their native lands.

Clearly, official Israel was stung by the reproof.
On June 13, 2000, the Knesset established a special commission of inquiry
into trafficking in women, headed by Meretz Knesset member Zahava Gal-On.
At the end of July, the Penal Code was amended to making trafficking in human
beings a crime whose perpetrators are liable to up to 16 years in prison
(20 for trafficking in a minor). And most recently, an interministerial
committee, composed of representatives of the Justice, Interior, Internal
Security, and Labor and Social Affairs ministries, has begun to address many
of the issues spotlighted by the Amnesty Report.

Perhaps most telling of all, officials like Davidovich
and Herzl are now clearly speaking of trafficked women as "victims" and of
the need to prosecute the traffickers and pimps, rather than the women they
victimize.

Expectations of what this thrust of interest and activity
can accomplish, given budgetary constraints, vary. "We're not talking about
eradicating [sex trafficking], just containing its spread and reducing its
scope," says Davidovich. "And it's clear that the police cannot take on the
establishment of hostels or other aspects of a witness-protection program
to encourage these women to testify in criminal cases."

But Herzl is far more upbeat, saying that he intends
to raise the idea of a witness-protection program with the incoming minister.
He also reports that the police have been directed to embark on "quality,
in-depth investigations - not against the women but against the importers,
the pimps, the people who run the whole business." And he promises that "in
the near future, you'll see the results of these activities. We are determined
to deal with the phenomenon head on," he says, "with the aim of reducing
it to the point of elimi-nating it."

MEANWHILE, OUT IN THE field, the hue has yet to turn
rosy. The Knesset's commission of inquiry held only two sessions before its
six-month mandate expired, and now there are procedural obstacles to
automatically renewing it. A judge in Beersheba has been known to assign
trafficked women to be held in detention, until their deportation, in the
very brothel where they worked - stipulating, of course, that they must not
engage in prostitution! And the Awareness Center has learned that the City
of Rishon Lezion, south of Tel Aviv, has been issuing business licenses to
brothels; the city had not responded by press time to an inquiry on this
from The Report.

Even more dismaying is the fact that the first trial
based on the new anti-trafficking clause of the Penal Code ended in mid-February
with a whimper: a plea bargain - proposed by the prosecution - in which the
offender received a mere two-year sentence. The case would probably not have
come to trial at all had it not been for the fact that one of the victim's
johns - a kibbutznik - fell in love with her (and vice versa), tried to redeem
her from bondage by paying off her "owner," shelled out an advance, and then
got stung by the greedy pimp, who proceeded to "sell" her elsewhere. Only
then - and after the love-struck kibbutznik had managed to "kidnap" his
prospective bride from her captor - was the matter taken to the police.

"Evidently the State Attorney's Office also has to
be educated about the new outlook on trafficking," says Gruenpeter-Gold bitterly,
while the Hotline's Levenkron has registered an official protest with the
Tel Aviv district attorney over the plea bargain.

Speaking of education, Gruenpeter-Gold suggests that
the Education Ministry also be represented on the interministerial committee
dealing with trafficking, and Levenkron would add the Foreign Ministry to
its list of members, explaining that an Israeli information campaign in the
CIS could go a long way toward attacking the problem at its source.

All in all, press clippings over the past six months
seem to suggest a slightly heightened awareness of the problem, and talks
with officials suggest that the state is finally beginning to address it.
But the apparent change of attitude is still nowhere near the energetic campaign
that the organ-izations grappling with the issue of trafficking would like
to see adopted.

"Neglect, sheer neglect is why we've reached this point,"
says Levenkron, and Gruenpeter-Gold adds: "I wish I could say that something
has seriously changed since the law was amended last July, but I can't."

"Just two months ago, we had a hard time getting the
police interested in even hearing Victoria's testimony," reports the Hotline's
Rozen. "They said it would be her word against that of her pimps, and they
couldn't build a case on that. It was only after I had testified before the
Knesset inquiry commission that the police called back to say they would
like to see her. They were shamed into it. And we should all be ashamed that
things like this exist in our 'enlightened,' democratic society and we still
prefer to turn the other way."

Friday, January 30, 2004

The director of the National Institutes of Health
said his agency will continue to fund sex research, including studies involving
pornography and prostitution that have been criticized by House
Republicans.

"I fully support NIH's continued investment in research
on human sexuality," Dr. Elia A. Zerhouni wrote in a letter to Sen. Edward
M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, that bypassed the Republican committee
chairmen who oversee the agency.

Those projects included a $147,000 Northwestern University
study that paid women to watch pornography, another that studied prostitutes
at truck stops and one that examined "two-spirited" transvestites in American
Indian cultures.

The letter to Mr. Kennedy echoed Dr. Zerhouni's remarks
earlier this month to an agency advisory committee. "When we looked at the
public health relevance, there was no question that these projects should
have been funded and should continue to be funded," the director told the
NIH panel, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

"Do I need a Ph.D. to understand why it is a sensible
prioritization to spend hundreds of thousands of research dollars to pay
women to watch porn, while countless Americans are suffering from dehabilitating
diseases with no cures?" Mr. Souder said in a statement.

The NIH director said he is "initiating discussions
... to ensure that this research is better presented to the public so that
they may understand the relevance of this research to public health and that
it is prioritized appropriately."

The battle over taxpayer-funded sex research has escalated
steadily in Congress over the past year. In July, the House rejected in a
212-210 vote a measure sponsored by Rep. Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania
Republican, that would have eliminated federal funding for five sex
studies.

Democrats have defended the research. Rep. Henry A.
Waxman, California Democrat, accused Republicans of "scientific McCarthyism"
for questioning the sex studies. "Imposing ideological shackles on this research
would be a serious public health mistake," Mr. Waxman wrote in an October
letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, whose department
includes NIH.

Although Dr. Zerhouni's letter to Mr. Kennedy outlined
various sexual research projects, it did not specifically address the project
most often cited by critics of NIH sex research: Northwestern University
psychology professor J. Michael Bailey's study that paid female subjects
as much as $75 each to "watch a series of commercially available film clips,
some of which will be sexually explicit" in order to monitor their body's
sexual arousal.

In November, Northwestern announced an ethics
investigation of Mr. Bailey, who has been accused of violating federal law
by failing to obtain consent from subjects used in research for his recent
book, "The Man Who Would Be Queen."

One of the complainants in the ethics probe -- described
under the pseudonym "Juanita" in Mr. Bailey's book -- consulted the professor
in 1996 to obtain psychological approval for sex-change surgery. "Juanita"
filed an affidavit with the university saying that two years after undergoing
the surgery, she had sex with the professor. His book subsequently cited
her behavior as validating Mr. Bailey's theories of sexuality.

NIH is "clueless" for defending Mr. Bailey, said
University of Michigan professor Lynn Conway.

"Taxpayer money is not just being wasted in sex research
at Northwestern University -- it's being used to exploit and defame transsexual
women in the name of science," said Ms. Conway, a pioneering computer scientist
who was born male and underwent sex-change surgery in 1968.

Thursday, January 29, 2004

Please Note: There is more then one individual with the name Benyamin Fleischman.The individual on this page was born born on October 31, 1963 in Harrisburg, PA.

Rabbi Benyamin Fleischman is a photographer and is frequently commissioned to do jobs outside of the state of Maryland (including outside of the US). His probation order permits him to travel. Please note that his work in the past has included weddings (with children present), Bar and Bat Mitzvahs (Commerical Photography and Video).

If you suspect your child or someone else's child has been victimized please contact your local child protection hotline or The Awareness Center for a referral.

Mr. Fleischman sentence is 10 years which will be suspended, five years probation, with the requirements recited before of no contact with children under 18. He is to cooperate with Child Protective Services. He was also ordered to stay away from his victim, and to have no unsupervised contact.

There is a new trend that is happening all over the country (U.S.) Many alleged offender are pleading guilty to a lessor charge, so that the plea agreement will include a stipulation that a convicted sex offenders will not have to be placed on the states sex offenders registry. When this happens it puts the entire community (or in this case children in other countries) at risk of harm.

Please note that no news media group has picked up this case, even though Mr. Fleischman was a well known person in the Jewish community in Baltimore.

At one time he owned the website: http://www.fotography.com. He sold the URL to a photo lab in Flordia and is no longer associate with it.

MS. LAWMAN: State of Maryland versus Benyamin Fleischmani; Case Number 103211052 through 053. Griffin Lawman (ph.) for the State.

MR. CARDIN: On behalf of the Defendant, Howard Cardin. Good morning, Your Honor.

THE COURT: Now my understanding is there's going to be a plea to sécond degree assault that carries a maximum lawful sentence of 10 yearsi and the agreement is going to be the sentence is 10 years suspended, five years probation with a collection of requirements with respect to counseling, and no unsupervised contact.with children under the age of 18i is that correct?

MS. LAWMAN: A stay away order,from the victim, Your Honor.

THE COURT: And visitation to be in accordance with what?

MS. LAWMAN: CPS, Your Honor. THE COURT: Okay.

MR. CARDIN: Child Protective Services.

THE COURT: OkaYi is that your understanding?

MR. CARDIN: That is, Your Honor. In addition, of course, there will be a motion or modification filed and we will be asking the Court to change this to probation before judgment at the appropriate time.

THE COURT: Now my understanding is the victim and the family are not presenti correct?

MR. CARDIN: Certainly. Now Mr. Fleischman, we have indicated to the Court that we wish to tender this plea of guilty to second degree assault. Before the Court can accept that plea it must be satisfied that you understand that you enjoy certain rights anq that those rights are being given up by tendering this pleaj do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: (Inaudible)..

MR. CARDIN: So I am about to ask you-a number of questions to make sure that you understand what is going on here today, and that the Court can make a finding that you have voluntarily and intelligently given up these rights do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: And again, we'll ask you to keep your voice up. If you have any questions, stop me I'll be glad to answer. answer them okay? If not, the Court will be glad to. How much education have you had?

MR. CARDIN: And would it be fair to say that you and 1, along with many of the other persons here have rnet on rnany, rnany occasions to discuss this case?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Now, you understand that you do have the right to continue your pleas of not guilty, and if you did you would be able to have a trial. That trial could either be a court trial or a jury trial. A jury is 12 persons selected from the cornrnunity who would have to agree unanirnously that the State had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt before the jury could find you guilty. If you had selected a court trial then the Court would have to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you understand that by entering this plea of guilty you're giving up your right to a trial, be it a court trial or a jury trial?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you further understand that had you pled not guilty and had there been a trial that the State would have called witnesses. Those witnesses would have testified frQrn the witness chair under oath. You have a right to see those witnesses, a right to cross

examine them through me as your counsel. That's your right of confrontation and cross examination of witnesses. By entering this plea of guilty you're giving up your right of confrontation and cross examination. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you further understand that had this case gone to trial you would have been able to call witnesses in your own defense. You would have been able to use the subpoena power of the Court to ,get those witnesses to come in, and you, yourself would have been able to testify. There will be no trial; thus you're giving up your right of compulsory process to have witnesses come in to testify. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you further understand that had you gone to erial you would have had the absolute right not to testify. That is your right against selfincrimination. By entering this ~lea of guilty you're giving up your right against self-incrimination. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: All right. Now let me point out and let us make it clear at this point; you and I have

discussed the fact that you are tendering this plea under Alfred v. North Carolina. That is, you are saying to this

Court that you believe you are innocent of this offense, but that because of the plea offer that has been made to you in our discussions you have agreed or decided it would be in your best interests to enter this plea of guilty is that correct?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: And that is what you' re saying to this Court?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Okay. Now, you understand that there were motions that were filed on your behalf. The Court would have ruled on those motions prior to trial. By entering this plea of guilty those motions become moot and, in fact, are withdrawn. Do you understand that?

MR.' FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you further understand that had this case gone to trial, had you Been found guilty you would have had an automatic right of appeal to the Court of Special Appeals. By entering this plea of guilty you're giving up your automatic right of appeali do you understand that?

MR. CARDIN: Let me advise you at this pointi you would be able to file an application for leave to appeal but that is limited to four very narrow issues.

Those issues are the jurisdiction of this Courti and I advise you that the events occurring in Baltimore City, and you being over the age of 18 gives this Court jurisdiction. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: (Nods head yes) .

MR. CARDIN: The second issue you could raise is whether or not you received the proper assistance of counsel. Are you satisfied with the services that I have rendered?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: The third issue you could raise is whether or not the plea you are entering, the guilty plea you are entering is a free and voluntary act on your parto In that regard the Court needs to know whet?er or not anyone has threatened you, coerced you, or forced you in any way to get you to plead guilty.

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir:.

MR. CARDIN: Other than the plea negotiations has anyone promised you anything to get you to plead guilty?

MR. CARDIN: The fourth issue that you could raise would be whether or not the sentence imposed by the Court is one th~t is allowed by law. I have advised you that second degree assault, the maximum penalty is 10 years, and the máximum period of probation that a Court can impose is five years, so that the sentence contemplated by the plea negotiations'is certainly a sentence that is allowed by law. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: (Nods head yes) .

MR. CARDIN: So what I've said to you is this. Although you would be able to file an application for leave to appeal, the likelihood of succ~ss is extremely remote. Do you understand that?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Now, are you under the influence of any alcohol or drugs at this time?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you suffer from any mental or physical impairment that would prevent you from understanding what is going on here today?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Are you under the care of a psychiatrist or a psychologist?

MR. CARDIN: Okay; and that is as part of your counselingi is that correct?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Is there anything about that that would prevent you from understanding what is going on here today?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Have you recentiy been in a mental institution?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Are you on probation or parole?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Do you understand that if you were on probation or parole this guilty plea would be a violation of that probation or parole?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Are you a citizen of the United States?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir,.

MR. CARDIN: Do you understand that if you were not a citizen of the United States, if you were mistaken about that, that this guilty plea would result in or could result in your deportation from the United States?

Now, having then understood all the rights that explained to you, and recognizing that you are these rights, is it still your desire to enter this plea of guilty at this time?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

MR. CARDIN: Okay.

THE COURT: Any questions for me or for your attorney?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, sir.

THE COURT: I find the plea is entered into I knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently.

MS. LAWMAN: If called to testify, Your Honor, the State's witnesses would testify as follows.

That (Minor Victims Name Removed), date of birth Minor (Victims Date of Birth Removed), who was the (Relationship of Victim Removed) of Mr. Benyamin Fleischman, date of birth 10/31/19'63, who would be identified here in Court today as person standing at Defense counsel table, disclosed to her therapist that from the age of five to the age of ten Fleischman forced her to engage in sexual intercourse and various other sexual acts. (Minor Victims Name Removed) was living with Mr. Fleischman at the time at (Victims Address Removed), which is located in Baltimore City, State of Maryland. (Minor Victims Name Removed) was under the age of 18 and Mr. Fleischman was the custodian of (Minor Victims Name Removed) at the time.

MR. CARDIN: And Your Honor, we agree that that's witnesses would testify to; this being an -

THE COURT: I understand you contest the facts the family of the victim and the victim wish to in this fashion.

MS. LAWMAN: Correct, Your Honor. MR. CARDIN: Yes, sir.

THE COURT: All right; very well.

Based upon that and the facts as recited in the I'll enter a find of guilty to the second degree count beyond a reasonable doubt. Anything else you wish to say on sentence?

MR. CARDIN: Yes, Your Honor; If I might. I have -- the Court will note all the witnesses who are the courtroom on Mr. Fleischman's behalf. I have them that we did discuss this matter in chambers and indicated to them that their presence here was certainly very important but they need not testify at this time. I believe as a result I would just like to proffer Court that there are witnesses here, not only locally, but from New York, from Minneapolis, I believe; from Florida; certainly coming from all areas to testify behalf of Mr. Fleischman. And I suggest to you and I

~represent to you that he has just an excellent reputation in the cornrnunity. That is the reason why I did ask the tcourt to consider and the Court did advise how we would handle a situation for probation before judgment.

I would like al so to put on the record -- I know these things are not adrnissible as far as trial is concerned, but indeed, there was a polygraph exarnination conducted at rny request, not to the knowledge of the State; and I have it here which does indicate that Mr.Fleischman was telling the truth when he denied these allegations.

The last thing I want to say to the Court before disposition is, Mr. Fleischrnan is a photographer and is frequently cornmissioned to do jobs out or the State of Maryland; and so we are requesting that the probation orders specifically allow him to leave the State of Maryland for purposes of taking this employment.

He has also been engaged to do jobs out of this country, and he -- during -- while we were waiting for trail, in fact he had to turn down --

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Two jobs.

MR. CARDIN: -- at least two jobs because of In fact, I was getting ready to file a petition to to go on one and we decided ultimately that we not do that.

As part of his pre-trial release order he was to turn in his passport. He attempted to do so accept it. So I have been holding that I make that representation to the Court, since he was released. I also would ask the Court with regard to that whether or not the passport can, of be returned to him.

THE COVRT: Is there any concern about that at

MS. LAWMAN: No, Your Honor. THE COURT: That's fine.

MR. CARDIN: So that will be returned to him; and that with regard to jobs out of the country we to will have to file some type of request for him to be able We understand that and we're prepared to do

THE COURT: I would ask the Clerk to note on the order that he's permitted to travel outside the of Maryland for the purposes of work. That's fine.

MS. LAWMAN: Your Honor, I would just like to be clear. Just one second.

THE COURT: Sure.

(Plaintiff and Defense counsel confer briefly) .

MS. LAWMAN: Your Honor, Iwould just ask that th e counseling requirement be through Parole and

MR. CARDIN: Your Honor, and one other thing; and I do apologize to the Court.

With regard to traveling out of the state, and I should have realized this, he does have, family out of also. We would ask that he be permitted to -

THE COURT: That's fine.

MR. CARDIN: I don't think that's an issue now with the State.

MS. LAWMAN: Your Honor, as long as he follows

THE COURT: That's fine. No objection.

MR. CARDIN: Okay; thank you.

THE COURT: And I do appreciate so many people cming here today, and, I mean, a consideration of the plea is the fact that Mr. Fleischman has otherwise had a led an exemplary life without any other involvements with the criminal justice system and has a lot of community support. And obviously the fact that the family to be resolved in this fashion, 1 think, it's best interests of everybody given the unfortunate of the case.

Is there anything else? MR. CARDIN: No, Your Honor. We are prepared for

THE COURT: Does Mr. Fleischman have anything he to say?

(Mr. Fleischman. struggles to stand up) THE COURT: Are you okay?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: I've had back surgery. Sorry,

THE COURT: Anything else you wish to say?

MR. FLEISCHMAN: No, thank you.

THE COURT: All right.

Pursuant to our agreement, sir, the sentence is which will be suspended, five years probation, requirements recited before of no contact with under 18, cooperate with Child protective with respect to visitation, and appropriate sex counseling under the Department of parole and

MS. LAWMAN: And a stay away order from the Your Honor.

THE COURT: And stay away from the victim.

MR. CARDIN: Your Honor, it's not -- no unsupervised contact with children under 18.

MR. CARDIN: Yeah when you said no contact unsupervised contact it's no unsupervised contact.

THE COURT: That's fine. Right.

MR. CARDIN: And my client asked the same that brought us to the Court right before New Year's and that is what happens if he sees her -- you know, I -- we're going to work it out; and I explained to him that, you know the world has to go on, and his life will go on, too.

THE COURT: Right.You understand the sentence,

MR. FLEISCHMAN: Yes, sir.

THE COURT: You have 10 days to ask for a new trial, 30 days to request a leave to appeal, 90 days to request modification. Counsel can bviously do that for you by filing appropriate pleading in the courthouse. Any other Questions?

MR. FLEICHMAN: No, sir.

THE COURT: Good luck to you.

MS. LAWMAN: Your Honor, all counts not called in the State would ask be closed by operation of law, and State would enter a nolle prosequi in 103211053.

This is to certify that the foregoing the matter of State of Maryland versus Fleischman, Case Nos. 103211052 and 103211053, the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City on January 8, 2004 was recorded by means of videotape.

I hereby certify that the proceedings, transcribed by me to the best of my ability in complete.

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Survivors ARE Heroes!

The Awareness Center believes ALL survivors of sex crimes should be given yellow ribbons to wear proudly.

Survivors of sexual violence (as adults and/or as a child) are just as deserving of a yellow ribbon as the men and women of our armed forces, who have been held captive as hostages or prisoners of war.

Survivors of sexual violence have been forced to learn how to survive, being held captive not by foreigners, but mostly by their own family members, teachers, camp counselors, coaches babysitters, rabbis, cantors or other trusted authority figures.

For these reasons ALL survivors of sexual violence should be seen as heroes!